You can reopen a closed or completed Question-Based Assessment (QBA) so that you can use it to accept new responses. When you do this, the existing responses from the past are preserved as previous versions, and the respondent is notified that the assessment has been reopened.
You may also choose to send only specific questions back to the respondent for review.
Reopen the assessment (full)
Go to Audits & assessments and click the Closed or Completed assessment that you would like to reopen. You can check the Status of your assessments using the column or tab.
Click on the Results button next to the completed status or click on name of the assessment to view it in detail and click on Results in the top right corner. Click Reopen.
Select Yes to confirm your action and proceed. You can then add a message for the respondent(s) so they know why you are reopening the assessment.
The assessment can now be reviewed by the previous respondent(s). They can update previous answers as necessary.
The respondent(s) will be sent an email notification that looks something like this, which includes your custom message.
The answers to all the questions will be pre-filled as per the previous version and can be updated as required.
When a respondent submits this response, it is now the latest response version. You can check all the previous versions in the Responses tab.
Once the respondent(s) submit their response(s), the assessment status will change to Completed.
Reopen the assessment (specific questions)
After a respondent submits an assessment and review begins, reviewers can send specific questions back to the respondent for correction instead of reopening the entire assessment. Each send-back action creates a new assessment version while preserving previous submissions, ensuring a complete audit history and controlled rework process.
Reviewer Adds Comments During Review
While reviewing responses and assigning compliance statuses, reviewers can leave comments directly against individual questions. This allows feedback to be captured at the time of review, eliminating the need to recreate feedback later when reopening the assessment.
Reviewer Selects Questions to Reopen
When initiating a reopen action, the reviewer is presented with a Reopen Overlay containing several tools to streamline the process.
Default Filters
- Questions marked as Not Compliant or Partially Compliant are automatically displayed.
- If no questions exist within those statuses, the view defaults to All Questions.
Select All Functionality
- A Select All checkbox allows reviewers to select or deselect all currently visible questions.
- The checkbox supports an indeterminate state when only some visible questions are selected.
Selective Reopen
Reviewers can choose exactly which questions require further work rather than reopening the entire assessment.
Bulk Commenting
Reviewers can:
- Select multiple questions
- Apply a single comment across all selected questions
- Receive a warning when an existing comment will be overwritten
Parent, Child, and Looped Question Behaviour
Parent and Child Questions
- Selecting a parent question automatically includes all child questions
- If only child questions are selected, the parent remains visible for context
Looped (Group) Questions
- Selecting a looped sub-response automatically includes all child questions belonging to that sub-response.
New Assessment Version Is Created
When the reopen action is completed:
- A new version is created (V2, V3, V4, and so on)
- The original submission remains unchanged
- The original root assessment is preserved
- Previous versions are marked as deprecated
Respondent Updates Reopened Questions
The respondent is shown only the questions that were sent back for correction.
Benefits include:
- Clear visibility of reviewer feedback
- Faster remediation and resubmission
Reviewer comments remain visible on each reopened question.
Reviewer Reviews the Resubmission
After resubmission, the reviewer assesses the updated responses.
This process can continue through multiple cycles (V2, V3, V4, etc.) until all requirements are satisfied.
Hailey AI Integration
When Generate with Hailey is used on a reopened assessment:
- Hailey generates responses only for reopened questions
- Questions that were not reopened are excluded from generation
Import and Export Support
For reopened assessments:
- Import operations consider only reopened questions
- Export operations include only reopened questions
This ensures consistency throughout the reopen workflow.
Assessment Results Page
After assessment completion, indicators are displayed against questions that participated in a reopen cycle (V2 onwards).
Responses Tab (Assessment Builder)
Version rows display indicators when respondents have left comments on an In Progress version, helping reviewers identify versions requiring attention without opening each one individually.
Review Trail
Following resubmission, a Review Trail tab provides complete visibility into the review process for each question, including:
- Full reviewer/respondent comment history
- Answer changes across versions
- Participation in specific reopen cycles
Your next step may be to review these new answers.